Stress is a normal physical response or reaction to events or environmental conditions that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way. These conditions or events are called "stressors". When you sense danger – whether it’s real or imagined – the body's defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction, or the stress response.

Life throws stress at us in every imaginable way, sometimes on a daily basis. This stress can lead us down many paths. We often think of stress as the antithesis of happiness.

In fact stress isn’t always bad. In small doses, it can help you perform under pressure and motivate you to do your best. But when you’re constantly running in emergency mode, your mind and body pay the price.

The stress response is the body’s way of protecting you. When working properly, it helps you stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency situations, stress can save your life – giving you extra strength to defend yourself, for example, or spurring you to slam on the brakes to avoid an accident.

The stress response also helps you rise to meet challenges. Stress is what keeps you on your toes during a presentation at work, sharpens your concentration when you’re driving your car on the road or drives you to study for an important exam.

But beyond a certain point, stress stops being helpful and starts causing major damage to your health, your mood, your productivity, your relationships, and your quality of life.

The situations and pressures that cause stress are known as stressors. We usually think of stressors as being negative, such as an exhausting work schedule or a volatile relationship.

However, anything that puts high demands on you or forces you to adjust can be stressful. This includes positive events such as getting married, buying a house, going to college, or receiving a promotion.

What causes stress depends, at least in part, on your perception of it. Something that's stressful to you may not affect someone else; they may even enjoy it. For example, your morning commute may make you anxious and tense because you worry that traffic will make you late. Others, however, may find the trip relaxing because they allow more than enough time and enjoy listening to music while they drive.

You can protect yourself by recognizing the signs and symptoms of stress and in by doing so reduce its harmful effects in ways you probably never thought were possible.

Dr. Selye was a leading pioneer in stress research, universally acknowledged as "the father of stress". Over the course of his lifetime he wrote over 1,700 scholarly papers and 39 books on stress. The findings that Dr. Selye discovered would have a profound influence on Dr. Lazarev and later his pupil, the "father of adaptogens" Dr. Israel Brekhman. General Adaptation Syndrome (G.A.S.), a theory of stress, was the primer concept to adaptogens first developed by Dr. Selye in 1936. This G.A.S. theory involves three progressive stages of stress:

FIRST STAGE - THE ALARM REACTION

Surprise and anxiety inducing hormones are produced by the body when a person is exposed to a new situation. The 'flight or fight' hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine create a heightened state of awareness or alertness, causing the body to become tense and stressed. These 'stress hormones' cause several changes in the body, including an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. Additionally, the adrenal cortex is stimulated to produce additional cortisol and related hormones.

SECOND STAGE - RESISTANCE

This adaptive stage is when a person’s body learns to efficiently cope with the stressor it is exposed to. Diseases such as insomnia, headaches, high blood pressure and kidney disease manifest themselves during this stage when a person’s immunity is vulnerable and weakened due to prolonged exposure of the stressor.

THIRD STAGE - EXHAUSTION

Further exposure to the stressor over longer duration can start to manifest in symptoms such as infection, complete depletion of energy and eventual cardiovascular disease, in which the person can suffer from a heart attack. Although the above-mentioned G.A.S. stages are negative in nature. Dr. Selye did point out useful reactions of stress. He noted that stress is not only inevitable in life but results from situations that one would generally think of as non-stressful. For example, situations such as a job promotion, completing a degree, marriage and vacation could all be considered positive and even joyful or happy. These stresses help to shape our adaptive capabilities in positive ways, although our bodies are still affected negatively.

Later in his career, Dr. Selye published a seminal study in 1950 proposing that stress is a normal, daily part of life. He argued that adapting to stress is a natural mechanism. Furthermore he argued that over prolonged exposure to stressors, specifically environments of stress, humans stress adaptation levels increase and compound the stress. This he argued would result in physical exhaustion and even death if the individual’s stressors were not normalized or relieved.

Dr. Selye was renowned internationally and respected for this groundbreaking research on stress and its effects on people, the causes and practical ways of normalizing stress. His published works, “Stress Without Distress” and “The Stress of Life” were bestsellers of his time. He collaborated with Dr. Richard Earle and published two works later in life, “Stress and the Workplace” and “Your Vitality Quotient”.

The body doesn’t distinguish between physical and psychological threats. When you’re stressed over a busy schedule, an argument with a friend, a traffic jam, or a mountain of bills, your body reacts just as strongly as if you were facing a life-or-death situation. If you have a lot of responsibilities and worries, your emergency stress response may be “on” most of the time. The more your body’s stress system is activated, the harder it is to shut off. This constant stress can stay with you even in times when you feel at ease or aren't doing anything you would normally deem "stressful". This is what we call being out of balance. The equilibrium between our body and mind has drifted into an uneven or unstable state of being. The longer we remain in a negative, un- balanced state, the more exposed we are and vulnerable to health problems.

Chronic stress disrupts nearly every system in your body. It can raise blood pressure, suppress the immune system, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, contribute to infertility, and speed up the aging process. Long-term stress can even rewire the brain, leaving you more vulnerable to anxiety and depression, impatience, anxiety, irritability. Maybe you've seen the effects of stress in your customers' behavior, or maybe they've come to you looking for suggestions on how to calm their nerves and reduce the impacts of stress on their bodies, minds and souls.

The American Academy of Family Physicians in Kansas City, Mo., estimates that approximately two-thirds of all office visits are for stress-related complaints. Yet stress itself is not an illness; it is simply a fact of life--and always has been. The stressors have changed over the years, but human physiology has remained the same.

Humans once were regularly at risk of being attacked by wild animals or hostile people. Our bodies still respond to threats by secreting hormones that change our physiology and thus enhance our ability to run away or defend ourselves. This response, termed "fight or flight," includes intense stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal glands resulting in increased respiration rates and higher blood pressure and blood sugar levels as well as increased heart rate and force of contractions. At the same time, there is a decrease in digestive secretions. In cases of acute stress, the situation is often resolved quickly, and normal physiology returns. If stress is prolonged or chronic, however, the body's calls to action become detrimental.

The body expends a great amount of energy keeping itself in a heightened state of readiness. When weakened by prolonged stress--be it caused by lack of sleep, poor diet, chemical toxins in the environment or mental assaults--the body's ability to maintain homeostasis can be compromised, and illness can result. Adaptogenic herbs have traditionally helped prevent the imbalances that can result from stress and have therefore prevented or minimized disease.

Stress can profoundly and negatively influence and harm reproductive function, the immune system and the brain. The following conditions are commonly linked to stress: